Life As An Anomaly: One Man's Positive Journey Through Life

I never go to Dunkin Donuts but I had a mean cravng for coffee and although it is 34°F, I wanted a frozen coffee. I don’t know Dunkin’s menu and this being a kiosk at the airport didn’t have a menu board. Me: “Hi. What type of frozen coffee drinks do you have?” Woman: “Hot…

I recently put up a post called #Sarcoidosis Tweets Are The Whiniest Tweets There Are On The Planet and boy did I get a lot of direct emails for that one. That particular post received the second most hits of all my posts and the most direct email responses. The negative comments were by direct…

One of the little secrets to improving your health is joy. It doesn’t have to be huge things, but the little things in life that bring you joy. Like a really good cup of latte can give me joy for hours. And a couple of slices of awesome bread as a late night snack is…

There! I said it and I could care less if you are mad, offended, upset or whatever. You could call me uncaring or cold, mean or nasty, but the truth is I am so fed up with seeing twitter posts in general with the hashtag for sarcoidosis because all they are are just a bunch…

When I was first diagnosed with heart failure in August 2007, I was told my ejection fraction was 25% and I needed to have an ICD implanted. That was immediately after having surgery to close a hole in my heart, and during that surgery doctors came to the realization that sarcoidosis had gone into the heart….

I started this blog April 2010 for myself. It wasn’t meant to help anyone to be honest. I went through a major change in my life when developing sarcoidosis and all the complementary conditions it decided to provide me, such as heart failure and secondary pulmonary hypertension. It was just a way to expunge, and…

What can I say about this disease. It seems I make a step forward and then another one back or sometimes even two. For those of you that are now coming across my blog for the first time, I have a disease known as sarcoidosis and in 2007, I found out that it was in…

Cloud on clouds #clouds #sky #travel #caribbeansea #landscape #nofilter #iphone8plus A post shared by Basil René (@aviewofmyworld) on Sep 29, 2017 at 12:09pm PDT I went back to my birth land to visit my family two weeks ago and took this photo on the way back

I have a friend who is very wealthy and somewhat lives in a bubble where he almost believes that everyone has great disposal wealth and can purchase anything at a moment’s notice. On the other side I have another friend that is not wealthy and seems to struggle. My phone has been giving trouble for…

When I was 19, I made my first trip to the US on vacation and fell in love. I drove into New York on a chilly June night from JFK and knew this was my home, this is where I was meant to be. I came back every year for vacation after that and eventually I…

I am practicing meditation for a few years now but mostly guided meditations and not everyday. A lot of the time I would fall asleep during it. Today I finished a “test” (I prefer test over challenge) of doing a mantra meditation for forty days straight and I have not missed a day. I will…

I posted last time that my friend was going in for testing and they discovered that he has lung cancer. He is not in a really good place, but that is another story. Last week I got a call that my mother was having trouble breathing and that she was going to the nursing home…

“I’m having surgery on Monday” were the words that came up on my iPhone screen two weeks ago from a longtime friend. I’m not going into the details of the conversation, but it turns out that he has early stage lung cancer. He hasn’t gotten an exact diagnosis as yet, but he isn’t handling it…

As a species, we are all very judgmental and anyone who says they are not are just lying to you and themselves. In reality, when you think about it, being judgemental is what keeps us alive. When I meet someone for the first time, I get an instant impression of their personality, and I base…

I came across a blog recently that was written by a person with some of the same conditions that I have – heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. The tone of the writing was very angry and bitter towards both the diseases and the establishment.

When I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis I was asked if my heritage had either Scandinavian or African as these people were more susceptible to getting Sarcoidosis. According to what I knew, I had neither of those heritages in my DNA. I have always been fascinated with my genetic heritage because my family is so different….

The other day my wife asked me if I had any dreams and I honestly could think of none. Have I allowed my condition to stop me from truly living? How the hell could I not have any dreams, or have I locked them away so that I don’t end up getting disappointed, or worse yet, I subconsciously don’t think I will

I want to put forward a thought on human behavior. First, take one hundred people in your contact list, be they personal, work associate or someone you went to school with but don’t really know well. On a piece of paper, write their names and their cell phone numbers next to it. Go to bed…

If you are on Plaquenil and never saw my little old post, head on over to “Plaquenil Withdrawal” and check out why this is the most active, multi-hit post for the past five years. I really can’t figure it out.

Ever wonder why we wait so long at the doctor’s office? It seems there are more people in the waiting room every time I go to my cardiologist. Today I had an appointment at 11:15 and as I was checking in, another person came in and checked in for the same time for the same…

I browse a lot of blogs everyday and a recurring theme, especially in health blogs, is bible quotes. I have nothing against anyone quoting the Bible, but if you are going to do it, then please put a quote that is actually referencing what you are talking about and not something completely different because you…